Full of sound and furry
What’s wrong with the iPad, Microsoft’s hopes for 2012 and who won Christmas Day.
It’s the last Macalope column of 2011! Paul Thurrott tries to “cure” the iPad, the Winotaur has high hopes for 2012 and was Santa good to you this year or did you get an Android-based device in your stocking?
Tablet losers, Siri and bad headlines in history in this week’s column.
This week’s Macworld column looks at tablet losers, Siri and bad headlines in history.
The Winotaur, reasons to use Android and bad cellular experience.
This week’s column features another conversation with the Winotaur, reasons why someone might use Android and finally asks why bad cell service is only supposedly a problem for Apple.
Kindle Fire, market share and the Android user experience in this week’s column.
This week’s Macworld column looks at the Kindle Fire, another market share argument and the Android user experience.
iPad latecomers, Kindle Fire and Consumer reports in this week’s column.
This week’s Macworld column looks at iPad Johnny-come-latelys, Kindle Fire-y doom predictors and what’s up Consumer Reports’ butt.
Amazon Kindle Fire and Wall Street goofiness in this week’s Macworld column.
This week’s Macworld column welcomes the Amazon Kindle Fire and wonders what’s in the water over on Wall Street because some of those guys are goofy.
Could Amazon and webOS be a match made in heaven? Heck if the Macalope knows.
The other day over at Macworld the Macalope alluded to how the fine folks at Microsoft’s legal department might be giddy at the thought of raking in some cash from the new Kindle Fire. They’ve got a lot to be giddy about lately as they landed themselves a big fish this week: Samsung.
Microsoft announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., to cross-license the patent portfolios of both companies, providing broad coverage for each company’s products. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running the Android mobile platform.
Florian Mueller points out the relationship problems between OEMs and Android.
By taking a royalty-bearing license, Samsung recognizes that Android has intellectual property problems that must be resolved with license fees, and reduces to absurdity the idea that Google is going to be able to protect Android after the acquisition of Motorola Mobility.
“This relationship comes with more baggage than I bargained for!” Now it seems Samsung is telling Google “I think we should see other people.”
Tizen is apparently the combination of MeeGo and LiMo — neither of which have any serious adoption — that I wrote about earlier. It looks like an Intel- and Samsung-led rival to Android — which is selling well, but has patent issues, and is increasingly under Google’s control.
It’s an uphill battle against Android and iOS at this point but, hey, good luck, Tizen.
Consumers and developers will need reasons to support Tizen, too, which will be a struggle. But it’s probably worth trying, even if just to show Google that it has competition.
The Macalope’s not sure Tizen is necessarily the ticket, but he suspects that the devotion of the Android community to its platform is ankle-deep compared to the iPhone and iPad, so it might be worth a try.
The problem, however, is not so much the platform as it is the ecosystem. This is why the Macalope thinks that Amazon possibly buying webOS from HP could be a great idea. Amazon already has the infrastructure and the media to make a platform successful. Yes, the breadth of apps will be less than what’s available on its App Store for Android, but does Amazon really want to get into a licensing deal with Microsoft? That’s where every other “Android” (quotes because Amazon’s fork of Android can’t technically be called “Android” because Google owns the trademark) OEM has ended up.
What do you want to be when you grow up, Amazon?
Who makes more, Apple or Google?
Here’s a little something to think about.
John Gruber posted something today noting that iTunes brought Apple $1.4 billion in revenue last quarter, noting how “it’s insignificant in the grand scheme of Apple’s income”. Indeed, Apple brought in $13.3 billion in revenue on the iPhone alone last quarter.
Which brings us to Google. Estimates are that Google could make up to $2 billion in revenue on Android… for all of next year.
Google’s development costs are probably lower because they only have to develop the operating system and not the hardware and their marketing costs are probably lower but, still, they’re just not pulling in anything near what Apple is.
Your takeaway from this should be, of course, that Google is winning and Apple is losing.
Enderle, patents and the Kindle Cloud Reader in this week’s column.
This week’s Macworld column looks at Rob Enderle being on the wrong side of history (again), the Great Patent Wars of 2011 and ridiculous commentary on Amazon’s introduction of the Kindle Cloud Reader.
This week’s Macworld column takes on Byte, the Amazon tablet and HP’s TouchPad.
This week’s Macworld column looks at the bad start for the return of Byte Magazine, who could really have it worst if Amazon ships a tablet this fall and some bad decision making by HP.